Forged in Fire - (Part 5 of the Ignaius-Saga)

I am Vengeance

Once Sikrit had disappeared from Tanier's sight, it was time to get moving again, as it was already past noon. Tanier steered his horse over to a group of hussars that obviously had been waiting. The leading officer greeting the king and Tanier introduced Variel: "Captain, this is Lord Variel. He wants to learn more about scout work. He will join your group today and you will answer all the question he may has. He is not to be left alone, select 10 me as his personal guard for today." - "Yes, Sire," the man simply acknowledged. For just a second his eyes were on Variel, then he turned around, addressing him while he did: "Follow me, my lord." He pushed his horse forward and the whole group followed.

Variel looked back at the king for a few seconds before he turned to follow the other man. He was clearly apprehensive, but he was trying to keep in mind what he'd been told. Besides, this was a learning experience. Surely he could distract himself.

Nevertheless, he was relieved later that evening when they made camp and he found Tanier amongst the organized chaos. His assigned guard left him with a salute to the king, and Variel gave Tanier an attempt at a smile. "Good evening." He tried not to show the true extent of his relief.

Tanier's face lightened up with a warm smile as he saw Variel. "Good evening," he replied. "Get off that horse, you can do rounds with me."

They spent the next two hours to walk around the whole perimeter of the camp, stopping here and there to encourage some of the men, inspect some of the work and listen to reports and the sun had just sunk under the horizon, when they finally returned to Tanier's tent, still occassionaly stoping on their way. They had been followed all the time by a small number of staff officers and a few soldiers that served as guards as much as messengers as well as for other small errands. When Tanier dismissed the group a long day was finally ending and he was rather tired when he sat down at a table, where food had already been waiting for him for some time. It was cold, but he didn't really care and didn't bother to get it reheated. He did not want to wait any longer, he did not want to give any more orders, he just wanted a quiet evening.

"So how was you day?" he asked Variel, as he sat down and selected a piece of meat for himself.

Variel sighed with relief as he sat down, only now realizing how physically tired he was. He selected a small portion of food for himself and then relaxed in his seat. "It went well enough," he began after taking a few bites. "The men seemed... somewhat annoyed to have me around at first, but I suppose they got over it in time. I guess I must have proven to be an easy student to teach, or perhaps less intrusive than they thought i would be. I did learn quite a bit about tracking and some various flora. They also taught me some counting tricks for assessing the number of people in a large group."

"That doesn't sound so bad. No group of soldiers is happy to see a noble foisted off on them. It equals trouble. Either they may end up babysitting or he may try to explain them how to do their job. Sometimes they may feel pride and enjoy the chance to show off their skills, but usually they prefer to be left alone." And as an afterthought he added: "Much like you. So chances weren't too bad you may actually get along with each other."

He decided to mix a little more water into his wine, too much alcohol would not do him any good, as tired as he was.

"Would you like to spend another day with them?"

Variel himself had only one cup of wine, then simply drank water as their meal continued. He considered the question a while, weighing the pros and cons. It meant he couldn't spend his day with Tanier, but when he was honest with himself, learning things from the scouts was a more productive use of his time as they traveled then just being the king's cute little shadow.

In the end, he nodded. "Yes, I suppose that could be beneficial. Nothing unpleasant happened today, so as long as that trend continues, I wouldn't mind learning a bit more."